Stimulating competitiveness through broadband

The essence of having and maintaining an information society and economy has long started to become a reality in Malta. Domestic demand and usage of diverse technologies have been relatively encouraging, with a rather slow start-up on its launch, but quickly and surely catching up with well developed countries.

This, I believe, is due to the fact that the use of common technologies was embedded in daily individual lives together with the production process of the industrial field.

Malta within eEurope+

Malta has been an active participant in the eEurope+ process, an action plan for the acceding countries to the EU, since its inception in 2001. It had set a number of objectives and desired goals for the attainment of an information society and economy.

Malta's performance was among the best of the countries participating in the programme and in some instances the EU average was also exceeded.

Reports presented at a ministerial conference towards the end of last February clearly underlined Malta's constant progress in the field. They showed that the Internet is present in 49% of our households while mobile penetration is in excess of 70% of the population - nearly three individuals out of every four.

Malta also has one of the highest percentages of computers per student population in all sectors of education.

A broadband strategy

Malta has been working on the compilation of its broadband strategy since last May. In doing so it followed closely successful strategies adopted by other countries intertwined with broadband development.

Through this we ensured that lessons learned elsewhere were taken into account and that mistakes committed were not repeated. One of the most striking insights, that immediately became apparent, is that countries that had competing broadband infrastructures tended to have the highest broadband penetrations.

What is broadband?

Broadband is the latest in high- speed Internet access technology, delivering access at speeds hundreds of times faster than a dial-up modem can provide. It is a non-specific term for high-speed digital Internet access including Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) and the brand new satellite Internet connection.

DSL technology is an always-on Internet connection that uses available ordinary copper phone lines for both the phone service and a high-speed Internet connection. One can surf the Web and carry out a conversation on the phone at the same time over an existing line, without the need of installing a new one. DSL is a new technology perfect for all aspects of Internet use.

Satellite Internet technology is much the same as DSL, except it uses a satellite dish instead of telephone wires to connect to the Internet, which enables anyone, regardless of their distance from the telephone company, to get high-speed digital Internet access.

Malta's strategy

Last week I attended the Information Ministerial Conference on Broadband, which was held in Dundalk, Ireland, and presented Malta's national strategy in this area.

Malta so far has two competing broadband network operators and so it is vital to ensure fair and healthy competition between the two. In fact this is a lesson that will be taken on board by the regulatory authority when taking decisions related to future roll-outs of additional broadband networks and when it encounters technological innovation with ultimate benefits to the consumer.

No-one in technology or service has any special rights to survive or flourish. They have to stand on their own two feet in a competitive environment. Thus the introduction of new technologies and networks that increase customer choice and spur investment should be accorded top priority.

The most significant lesson that was learnt is that consultation between all stakeholders is key. Implementing the strategy will involve the active participation of a number of leading stakeholders from the public and private sectors who will have to assume a number of defined roles leading to the same objective.

Our national broadband strategy is bound by four key principles:

¤ a key role must be played by the market players, including the telecoms providers and private industry;

¤ limited regulatory intervention - Government will intervene only in those matters necessary to ensure that the underlying infrastructure supports the equitable and competitive uptake of broadband;

¤ Government will co-ordinate a number of activities that will increase accessibility, including the provision of skills training and the availability of technology; and

¤ Government will aid the development of broadband by acting as a model user, not only through its role of purchaser of services, but also as providers and content developers in key public policy areas such as health and education.

Broadband in Malta

I believe that broadband take-up in Malta has been rather encouraging. In the last quarter of 2003, 30% of Internet subscriptions were broadband. This means a broadband take-up of 17% of households with another 41% being connected to narrowband.

This effectively means that of the whole population 5.4% use broadband, comparing well with the EU average of 6.03% in January 2004.

Broadband in Malta is accessible through two types of technology - DSL and cable modem. In 2003, 57% of broadband connections were done through DSL while the remaining 43% were through cable modem.

The installation of a totally digital system with data transported over fibre-optic cables across the country's territory resulted in virtually all households and businesses having a digital landline over which the Internet could be accessed.

In fact, DSL is available in 95% of the national territory while 81% of it is also home to a bidirectional hybrid fibre coaxial cable, thus allowing broadband access via cable modem.

The future

I am very confident that through mutual collaboration between Government and all those relevant to this field further stimulation of a positive and healthy competition will result through the use of such technological innovations.

Malta has already made great strides ahead in this regard and the future prospects are excellent. My ministry has this goal high on its agenda - working hard to achieve a competitive country for the benefit of economic stability.

I intend to pursue this commitment and follow developments closely in my capacity as minister responsible for competitiveness and communications. Malta has throughout the ages given a valuable lesson to history and I am sure that we can succeed in this too.